Monday, March 5, 2007

Editorial

We have been watching the Congressional hearings devoted to the state of facilities and medical care of our young men and women who have sacrificed their health, and more, to fight for freedom. It is amazing to us that it took a pair of journalists to rip off the scab and discover the suppurating sore underneath. For decades, veterans have been complaining about the treatment, or lack of such, that they receive, to no apparent effect.

To put it briefly, here is the problem. If you have ever dealt with a bureaucracy in any capacity, or if you have ever worked in an organization that relies on a rigid chain of command, or (Creator forbid) you have had experience of both, you understand the gist of what representatives' questions have elicited from the testifiers. There appears to be a predisposition to avoid accountability and to pass the buck on any situation that presents more than a normal level of difficulty. This is not specific to the military; one encounters this type of behavior frequently.

There is plenty of blame to go around, from the lowest-level officers who deal directly with the outpatients to the highest levels of the Department of Defense, and ultimately to the commander-in-chief himself. The men and women who are supposed to represent us in Congress are not exempt; they have been taking the word of military officers that all is either okay or in the process of being fixed instead of initiating personal inspections and compelling the military to allow them to visit places that most ought be inspected.

We the voters should be able to expect that the people who have been injured in service to our country be offered a higher degree of caring than they are at present receiving. That they are not is a shame and a black mark upon the soul of our nation.

5 comments:

mutualaide
said...

Aren't we just chalking up the black marks? It's one thing when the mark comes from another country -- we shouldn't really 'care' what they think. But when we create our own black mark we should be ashamed. And we should do something about it.

thank you for devoting several entries to this matter, sometimes it helps me if a friend discusses something than if it "only" appears in the news. speaking of the news, that tends to reach other folks that are not affiliated with the vets in a personal way and so that may be why it did take reporters to rip the scab off. those two sentences may seem to contradict each other, but i think you may know what i'm trying to say, grins to ya, debra

I listened to the testimony from the veteran that was in the room with black mold and holes in the walls and how it affected him. A veteran's wife spoke about the numerous complaints she made to the chain of command that went unanswered or acted upon. The issues go to the heart of the matter which is the overall lack of treatment that is being offered for brain injured and trama induced conditions needing attention by qualified professionals. Veteran's waiting for other physical (replacement eye condition) post surgical out patient services that are wanted to leave but can't because of lack of service were interviewed on PBS News Hour. A congressman was expressing the need for accountability on the part of the military so that condition will continue to be corrected following this current change of command. I believe it will have to be monitored to show that improvements are being made and standards raised. mark